Photos: China cracks down on ramshackle hydro projects

Sep 03, 2018 11:49 IST

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Water is released as heavy rain falls at Pubugou Dam on the Dadu river, a tributary of the Yangtze in Sichuan province, China. Authorities demolished seven small dam projects this year in the province to clear illegal developments in a new nature reserve, part of a nationwide programme to close hundreds of tiny and often ramshackle dams and turbines and bring order to China’s massive hydropower sector. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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A man finds shelter from the rain inside a tunnel. The dams sat on an unnamed tributary of the flood-prone Dadu river, where the government says “irregular development” of thousands of small hydropower projects has wrecked the ecology. But green groups say the campaign will not necessarily save the environment because it wont affect big state hydropower stations, which they say have caused the most damage. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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On the Zhougong river, another tributary, seventy-year-old farmer Zhang, reckons big dams have devastated the ecology. Zhang described himself as a “hydropower migrant” after his land was inundated by state dam builders 10 years ago. He said changes in the Zhougong’s flow and temperature had devastated the local fish population, with one species favoured by the Sichuan-born former leader Deng Xiaoping now wiped out. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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“The fish here now taste terrible, and are fit only for dogs,” he said. China triggered an aggressive damming programme 20 years ago, looking for ways to develop industry and bring electricity to poor rural regions. Investors rushed in and environmentalists likened the frenzy to the construction of backyard steel smelters during the 1958 “Great Leap Forward”. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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Water flows over Zhaoheng Dashiban Power Station on the Zhougong River. Now, the government wants to reverse course and the environmentally conscious leadership must decide how much of China’s 100 gigawatts of small-scale capacity needs to close. “Hydropower was a good thing at the time, but as is often the case in China, it turns into a swarm and we basically lose control,” said Chen Guojie, a hydropower expert. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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An entertainment program is shown on a TV set in a control room of one of the surviving privately-owned small power plants on an unnamed tributary of the Dadu river. Sichuan underlines the case. Total hydropower reached more than 75 GW in 2017, greater than the total in most Asian countries. It was also more than double the capacity of the province’s power grid. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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A villager carries a basket over a suspension bridge on the Zhougong River. China’s official hydropower capacity was about 340 GW at the end of June and around a third of that is considered small hydropower, projects of less than 50 MW. China’s overall power capacity, including coal and nuclear plants, is 1,740 GW. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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Children cool themselves in one of the tributaries of Zhougong River near Ya’an. In June, state auditors identified 24,100 small hydropower projects in the 11 regions along the Yangtze, and said the environmental costs of some plants were too high even though they had made “historical contributions” to development. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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A man manoeuvres a small raft as he goes fishing on the Zhougong. The government says small dams have disrupted the habitats and breeding patterns of many rare species of fish, although green groups argue the damage wrought by bigger dams is more severe, with entire towns and ecosystems submerged in water, which they say increases the risk of earthquakes, landslides and even climate change. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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A sign for a fish breeding base under one of the dams on the Zhougong. On the 48 km river, authorities have already demolished small projects built in nature reserves or encroaching upon new “ecological red lines”. But the river houses 10 larger stations run by some of the country’s biggest firms, including Guodian, Huadian and the State Grid Corp. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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A farmer is offered a cigarette while working in a field. Yang Yong, chairman of the Hengduan Mountain Research Society, a Sichuan-based environmental group suspects small plants are being shut down to free up grid access for bigger dams. Small hydropower plants originally had grid agreements, and if they were legal, they could connect. “If they can’t access the grid because there are many big plants, that isn’t right.” (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

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As far as Zhang the farmer is concerned, big hydro has already squeezed the life from the Zhougong, on which people have depended for decades. “Tens of thousands of people have made their living here, but soon it won’t be possible,” he said. (Damir Sagolj / REUTERS)

about the gallery

In a mountain village in southwest China's Sichuan province, authorities demolished seven small dam projects this year along a river to clear illegal developments in a new nature reserve. The demolition is part of a nationwide programme to close hundreds of tiny and often ramshackle dams and turbines and bring order to China's massive hydropower sector after years of unconstrained construction. But green groups say the campaign will not necessarily save the environment because it will not affect big state hydropower stations, which they say have caused the most damage.